Reuters Top 100: The Most Innovative Universities in the World – 2016

If you are not pacing with the rapidly changing world of science and technology, then you are behind.

If you are not pacing with in the rapidly changing world of science and technology, then you are behind.

This is one of the main conclusions made by Reuters 100 based on results of the analysis of most innovative universities in the world. The second year its list includes educational institutions that are most known as universities, promoting science, inventing new technologies and helping in the management of the global economy. Unlike other ratings, which often rely on fully or partially subjective studies, Reuters relies entirely on empirical data, such as patent applications and research of written documents. The results of 2016 show that great achievements - even just one very influential document or patent - can lead a university up in the list, but when this discovery is not used in modern practice, the university ranking falls. According to data on Universities, such sequence is a key factor, and many innovative institutions have lost the novelty of pioneering work, year by year.

Stanford University is the most consistent in innovative activities, which once again was on top Reuters 100. Decade after decade, Stanford students and teachers have been consistently introducing new improvements and discoveries. Companies established by Stanford graduates, including Hewlett Packard and Google, both have become globally famous, and fundamentally changed the existing industries and become a cornerstone of the completely new economy. The research of activities of the University for 2012 showed that all of the companies established by Stanford entrepreneurs, totaled $ 2.7 trillion in the annual revenue, which was the 10th largest share of the global economy.

Stanford University Main Quad

How could such a big change happen? High quality education of Carnegie Mellon has not changed. It is still considered one of the best universities in the United States, and its educational program on computer science is often considered the best in the world. But in 2015, ranking of Carnegie Mellon University fell much due to several patents of the blockbuster, which are now less relevant than a decade ago.

One of such patents, which described new biocompatible polymers that can be used for patients during wound healing, as often cited by external researchers of the "known state of the art" in their own patent applications. In 2008, this patent got 27 reviews, more than any other patent that year. But its importance fell in the next years. The Reuters methodology considers only recent reviews, and in 2016 the rating does no longer include this patent of 2008 and reviews for it, and as a result a large discovery of Carnegie Mellon does not produce the same effect. The university made no special efforts to fall out of the ranking list, it was just an untimely nature of innovation. One discovery can cause a sudden leap forward, and have no proper impact on the world.

At the same time, some universities saw a significant movement in another direction. Including, first of all, the University of Chicago, which in one year jumped from the 71st place to the 47th in 2016, also in the list of those that have risen include the Netherlands' Delft University of Technology (from 73 to 44) and South Korea's University of Sungkyunkwan (from 66 to 46 ).

Hamerschlag Hall at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

While, certain universities move up and down the ranking list, regional universities remain in substantially the same order throughout a year. The United States continue to dominate in the list, with 46 universities in the top 100; Japan once again showed the second result of the country, with nine universities. France and South Korea take the third position, each of them has eight universities. Germany has seven ranked universities; the United Kingdom has five; Switzerland, Belgium and Israel - three; Denmark, China and Canada - two; and the Netherlands, and Singapore - each has one.

The highest ranked university outside the United States is the Korean Institute of Science and Technology, or KAIST – the 6th place. (KAIST took the first place at Reuters in the recently published list of Asia's most innovative universities). Established on the model of engineering schools in the United States in 1971 by the Government of Korea, KAIST was initially funded by multimillion-dollar loan from the US Agency for International Development. Most core courses are taught in English. The University maintains close ties with the scientific community of the United States, the most innovative university in Europe, KU Leuven, ranked 9th, the Dutch school based in Flanders in Belgium. Founded in 1425 by Pope Martin the V, this is the oldest Catholic university in the world, and its mission today is comprehensive and cutting-edge research, and it works independently of the church.

University of Chicago

In order to make the list of the most innovative universities in the world, the separation of IP and Science of Thomson Reuters began with the identification of more than 600 organizations, including educational institutions, non-profit charitable organizations and publicly funded laboratories, which publish the most academic research. Then they evaluate each candidate on 10 different indicators, and analyze them based on performance.

Sungkyunkwan University

Attentive observers might notice some differences between universities in the US and other countries. In the regional innovation lists of Reuters agency the majority of innovative universities in Asia and the most innovative universities in Europe have highest ranking. And they take higher positions in the world list of innovators. The relative ranking of universities may vary from time to time, since each rating depends on the summing up on 10 indicators in comparison with others in a particular group of countries; when there are changes in the population, individual ratings may vary. In addition, a complete list is limited to the institutions that have filed 70 or more patents to the World Organization for Intellectual Property Protection in the five-year period for consideration by Thomson Reuters. To compile the regional lists there must be at least 50 patents, which allows having a more profound understanding of the most active institutions within a limited geographical area.

In general, the relative ranking of any university - whether or not it appears in the list - does not give the full picture of what important work has been done by its innovative researchers. Since innovations of the level ranking are carried out at the institutional level, particularly important innovation departments or programs may be overlooked: a university can have a low rating on the overall innovation, but it still, for example, can employ one of the world's best medical researchers and scientists. It is important to remember that whether the university is in the top or bottom of the list, but it is still in the top 100 in the world. All these universities produce original research, create useful technologies and stimulate the global economy.